Apple is the subject of another lawsuit. This time the plaintiff, Americans for Fair Patent Use, claims that Apple, Sprint and Verizon have falsely marked products with expired patents or patents that don't cover the products.

The plaintiff claims that this was done "with the intent to deceive the public about the patent coverage for their products", reports Apple Insider.

The lawsuit takes issue with a number of Apple products including the iPhone, iPod touch, and particular models of the iPod classic and iPod nano. The document claims that manuals, user guides and product information guides refer to various US patents.

In the case of the fifth generation iPod the manual referred to Patent Nos. 4,577,216, 4,631,603, 4,819,098 all of which expired prior to the product going on sale.

The Americans for Fair Patent Use want the court to fine Apple $500 per falsely marked product.